"Mike Aresco will help assure the conference of a vibrant future," Williams, who was the chair of the search committee, said in a statement.

The Connecticut resident will be formally introduced in New York on Wednesday. He served as a vice president in charge of programing at CBS since 1996.

Aresco handled the network's contract negotiations with the NCAA for the rights to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. He also negotiated CBS's 15-year deal with the Southeastern Conference.

Before his successful stint with CBS, he oversaw the acquisition, scheduling and development of long-term strategies for ESPN and ESPN2's college sports programming.

Villanova athletic director Vince Nicastro believes Aresco's hiring will benefit more than the league's television negotiations and football image.

"Although his expertise and background is in television, that's not the only thing a commissioner does," he said.

And for Nicastro, that's reason for optimism.

"Mike has been attached to the Big East for the programming side for many, many years," he said, "and I think has a great understanding and respect for the basketball assets that this league has and how valuable they are from a media standpoint.

"So I think it's a great combination of the two."

The announced hiring comes one day after the Big East hired Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures to be the lead negotiator for the league's television negotiations. The Bevilacqua group recently negotiated the Pac-12's $3 billion television deal with ESPN and Fox.

Next month, the Big East will meet with ESPN, which has an exclusive 60-day window. The league is free to negotiate with other networks if no agreement is reached with ESPN.

Last year, the league reportedly turned down an ESPN deal worth $1.4 billion over nine years. The Big East negotiations are expected to start at $2 billion.